New big blue signs in SoWal

[Smiling JOe]

Next Board of County Commissioner's Mtg (BCC) is February 26, 2008 4:00 pm in Defuniak Springs at the Courthouse.

 

[Here4Good]

Great thread....took me so long to read I am going to have to comment on numerous points at once:

1. When asked where I live, I start with "Have you ever heard of Seaside?" and work my way out from there. "Between Panama City Beach and Destin" works 90% of the time.

2. I am disappointed, but not surprised, at the attitude of the TDC to their "constituents". This has been my observation at numerous public meetings.

3. I would be embarrassed to say it took seven years to finish a sign project.

4. I was not that lit up about this topic until I read how Dave was treated by the TDC. This is a local businessman who owns THE name destination restaurant in THE name destination town on 30A, and who has been here 20+ years fighting the good fight, and who KNOWS something about the tourism business, and who came bearing opinions from the REST of the big names on 30A. If he does not deserve a courteous hearing from the TDC, then we have a SERIOUS problem here. I am also tickled pink that Ed Walborsky joined the fight.

5. WaltonGOP, we can't all be in county government - see my last point. Most of us have full-time jobs that prevent us from serving on boards that meet at 9 am on a Wednesday. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the BCC and other boards to be slightly more receptive and do a little more outreach to the community. Somebody has to run the restaurants, doctor the sick, and do the rest of what we do to keep the tax dollars flowing into the coffers.

 

[wrobert]

5. WaltonGOP, we can't all be in county government - see my last point. Most of us have full-time jobs that prevent us from serving on boards that meet at 9 am on a Wednesday. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the BCC and other boards to be slightly more receptive and do a little more outreach to the community. Somebody has to run the restaurants, doctor the sick, and do the rest of what we do to keep the tax dollars flowing into the coffers.

I am fortunate to be self employed. In fact I have two businesses that I should spend more time on instead of this political stuff. But not every meeting is during the day. There are far more things going on in the evenings. And if everyone would just put a little bit of effort into one thing, we would all be much happier I believe. And it does not have to be government. It could be a church, boy scouts, pto, just be involved. That to me is the only way it is going to change. Keep in mind that we considered a 40% turnout recently a record. 6 out of 10 stayed home. Boy did we do a good job.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Tee shirts and handbags available >>>here<<<. Some shirts have front and back designs.

If you are on a budget, feel free to print out the logos onto an iron-on transfer and make your own shirt. One logo is attached below, and the larger one I posted as an attachment a few days ago.

 

[Here4Good]

You're absolutely right, WaltonGOP. I think a lot of the locals who do post here are involved in the ways you mention. And I hope we all vote!

 

[GoodWitch58]

SJ are the tote bags big enough/suitable for "green" grocery bags? I've been meaning to buy some...this would be perfect to be green and community active as the same time.

 

[Smiling JOe]

SJ are the tote bags big enough/suitable for "green" grocery bags? I've been meaning to buy some...this would be perfect to be green and community active as the same time.

Thanks for asking. About two years ago, I convinced Publix WaterColor to carry canvas grocery bags, and I bought several. The bags which they carry now are not canvas, but are similar in size to the canvas bags, mentioned above. I just measured the No 2 Big Blue Monster (BBM) canvas bag to one of my old canvas Publix bags and they are the exact same size, same width, and the only difference is that the Big Blue Monster bags have slightly longer handles than the Publix canvas bags, which makes the BBM bags easier to use as a tote bag which you can easily pull over your shoulder. They will work perfectly for groceries.

 

[Grayton Girl]

I just got off the phone with Dottie Nist (Beach Breeze) and she is locating the article that was printed in October of 2002 (according to the TDC's timeline) about the signs. As soon as I hear from her, I will go and get it, copy it, scan it, and provide it to all the Sowallers.

That being said, I do believe that the issue of notice vs. no notice is really a red herring. I don't really think that public participation was much encouraged or sought in the design of the signs. (Frankly, it IS alot easier to design things with a small group, so I am sure the TDC was thrilled when no one really objected.) But even if the sign design was drawn out in the paper, I don't think anyone could have anticipated just exactly HOW LARGE and HOW BLUE and HOW CONSTRUCTION-PIPE-LIKE and HOW NUMEROUS the signs are in real life. I had to laugh when even one of the TDC members stated that they really had no idea just HOW TALL those directional signs were in real life. The inappropriateness of some "built" items often does not become apparent until it is built and placed. Which is why it would be refreshing for the TDC and the BCC to admit that the design really DID turn out to be a big mistake.

I remember years ago when my husband and I were in the process of renovating an historic home in Tallahassee, and we decided that we wanted to paint our main living room a very light pink. Well, we went to great lenghts to get just the right paint color, and even though we started to get concerned as we were painting, we kept at it, thinking that "Oh my gosh, we are so invested in this color, le'ts just keep at it and I'm sure it will be alright." We finished the painting, didn't really say anything to each other, and then went back to the house the next day to keep working on it. When we pulled in the driveway, we could actually see the house glowing from inside that room (and there were no lights on). It looked like a bordello! We suddenly realized that we had made a terrible mistake. And although we had spent so much time picking the color and painting the room, we realized that there was nothing we could do short of completely re-painting the room to make things right. We couldn't lower the lighting, or paint the trim a different color or use different furnishings. We just had to suck it up, admit our "well-planned" mistake and fix it right.

Just a little analogy. Fortunately, it was not a $260,000 mistake.

Oh, I just got a call from Dottie at the Beach Breeze. She has the article for me, so stay tuned.

 

[Grayton Girl]

I just got off the phone with Dottie Nist (Beach Breeze) and she is locating the article that was printed in October of 2002 (according to the TDC's timeline) about the signs. As soon as I hear from her, I will go and get it, copy it, scan it, and provide it to all the Sowallers.

That being said, I do believe that the issue of notice vs. no notice is really a red herring. I don't really think that public participation was much encouraged or sought in the design of the signs. (Frankly, it IS alot easier to design things with a small group, so I am sure the TDC was thrilled when no one really objected.) But even if the sign design was drawn out in the paper, I don't think anyone could have anticipated just exactly HOW LARGE and HOW BLUE and HOW CONSTRUCTION-PIPE-LIKE and HOW NUMEROUS the signs are in real life. I had to laugh when even one of the TDC members stated that they really had no idea just HOW TALL those directional signs were in real life. The inappropriateness of some "built" items often does not become apparent until it is built and placed. Which is why it would be refreshing for the TDC and the BCC to admit that the design really DID turn out to be a big mistake.

I remember years ago when my husband and I were in the process of renovating an historic home in Tallahassee, and we decided that we wanted to paint our main living room a very light pink. Well, we went to great lenghts to get just the right paint color, and even though we started to get concerned as we were painting, we kept at it, thinking that "Oh my gosh, we are so invested in this color, le'ts just keep at it and I'm sure it will be alright." We finished the painting, didn't really say anything to each other, and then went back to the house the next day to keep working on it. When we pulled in the driveway, we could actually see the house glowing from inside that room (and there were no lights on). It looked like a bordello! We suddenly realized that we had made a terrible mistake. And although we had spent so much time picking the color and painting the room, we realized that there was nothing we could do short of completely re-painting the room to make things right. We couldn't lower the lighting, or paint the trim a different color or use different furnishings. We just had to suck it up, admit our "well-planned" mistake and fix it right.

Just a little analogy. Fortunately, it was not a $260,000 mistake.

Oh, I just got a call from Dottie at the Beach Breeze. She has the article for me, so stay tuned.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Thanks for asking. About two years ago, I convinced Publix WaterColor to carry canvas grocery bags, and I bought several. The bags which they carry now are not canvas, but are similar in size to the canvas bags, mentioned above. I just measured the No 2 Big Blue Monster (BBM) canvas bag to one of my old canvas Publix bags and they are the exact same size, same width, and the only difference is that the Big Blue Monster bags have slightly longer handles than the Publix canvas bags, which makes the BBM bags easier to use as a tote bag which you can easily pull over your shoulder. They will work perfectly for groceries.

Wonderful...I am ordering now.